TGIF: Most Valuable Book

Source

Most Valuable Book: From your personal collection of books, which ones hold the most value to you - is it signed by the author? or maybe it's your favourite story of all time? Share it with us.

I have lots of books that are very, very special to me and here they are:

Yeah...just a few. As you can probably guess I tend to buy different versions of the same books a lot. 

I have two versions of The Hobbit here, but I also have another copy that isn't so special. The two here are special because one I've had since I was a kid and is an anniversary edition and the other is one of my favourite cover versions. The Hobbit is a firm favourite of mine, and you can probably guess from looking at the photo what other books are also favourites of mine.

The two versions of Skellig belong to myself and my fiancé and are both signed (see below). 

The little red book is Through The Looking Glass and I also have an old version of Alice in Wonderland. I really like Alice in Wonderland by the way. In getting these books out I also discovered that I have two identical copies of the Penguin annotated classics version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass which I didn't realise, I thought I had lost one of them so bought a new one because I couldn't bear not having a reading copy to hand.

I adore the Narnia boxset here but I also have another set of Narnia books, I have another copy of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe that would have originally been a part of a boxset, I also have the TV cover version, as you can see, and I have this copy of The Magicians Nephew which my Dad got me. I really like The Chronicles of Narnia.

The Little Grey Rabbit books, Betrix Potter books and Molly Moves House book are all childhood favourites. 

The Room With A View, The Go-Between, The Awakening and the Christina Rosetti poetry books are all from college and I love them to pieces. 

The Last Rabbit book contains a favourite poem (The Last Rabbit) which both my mum and I love. 

Earthsea Quartet was given to me by my sister and I still love it. 

Stolen, Flyaway, Fighback and Blood Hunters were written (and signed) by my former university tutors. 

Writes of Passage is the anthology that has a piece of my writing featured in it.

Signed books! Lucy Christopher and Steve Voake both taught on my university course and my masters course, they're wonderful people and I'm still in contact with Lucy. So of course I asked them to sign my books.

David Almond did a talk during the Bath Literature Festival a couple of years ago so I took the books along to be signed by him, I asked him to sign my fiancé's book too because he had to go to work so couldn't attend which was rubbish, but at least he now has a nice signed book.

I have a lot of books that I adore and I would be so sad if I ever lost them. This is also interesting because I think it accurately reflects what kinds of books I like, I obviously have a thing for fantasy and children's/YA books.

This week at The Paralian Girl:

Listen To This: Enya
Page Turners: Making Comics
From The Review Pile: 172 Hours On The Moon
TGIF: Most Valuable Book

Still to come:

Something For The Weekend

Sunday Catch Up

Coveted Cover: Flyaway

Once again I am featuring my friend Lucy Christopher! Her book Flyaway has such a gorgeous cover and I was lucky enough to be able to attend the launch too, where Lucy had lovely white feathers all over the tables and it was just lovely, and as usual she wore a bird-themed dress too.

From Goodreads:

In this touching novel for teenagers, Lucy Christopher explores the remarkable bond between a young girl, a boy and a damaged wild bird - a relationship that will touch everyone who reads it.

While visiting her father in hospital, thirteen-year-old Isla meets Harry, the first boy to understand her and her love of the outdoors. But Harry is ill, and as his health fails, Isla is determined to help him in the only way she knows how. Together they watch a lone swan struggling to fly on the lake outside Harry's window. Isla believes that if she can help the damaged swan, somehow she can help Harry. And in doing so, she embarks upon a breathtakingly magical journey of her own.

Coveted Cover: Stolen

Stolen by Lucy Christopher 

I am very lucky to count Lucy as one of my friends and I love both her and her amazing book. If you haven't read it then you must. She is called a "vivid new voice for teens" for a reason.

I love the cover of Stolen, and the back with it's winding snake. The cover reflects the dark story, the Australian desert and the fragility of the characters. Stolen is a beautiful book with an equally beautiful cover.

You can find Stolen both in your bookshop and on Amazon and I recommend you read it as soon as possible. To tempt you even more, here is a little peak at how good it is.

From Amazon:

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in th planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost